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loonylooly · 8 months

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at this point i'm wondering what sarah is thinking when writing her love interests, like ok it's clear she finds them hot but like....are they good people

Rhys:

UTM lap dance shenanigans

throwing Feyre into danger constantly (Weaver, destroying cauldron, getting the book from Adriata, etc etc)

Still not doing jack shit about wing clippings in Illyria?? Emerie is right there, Rhysand, go enforce your damn laws

Insulting his wife's sister constantly

Almost killed his wife's sister cause she dared give her important medical information

Locked Lucien (MY BOY!!) in the house of wind

Locked Nesta in the house of wind

Didn't give Mor any warning that time he made her face her abusers and she cried i think (ngl i forgot most of it)

Ignoring Hewn City even tho...Kier is like the only bad guy we've seen from there?? Surely there's decent people in Hewn City, don't gotta make everyone suffer

Nesta windhaven kidnapping intervention so she stops spending Rhys' money (if it was really about her own sake, they would've put a stop to it much earlier)

Seemingly alienates everyone in Feyre's life that could and would stand up to Rhys for Feyre's sake. Lucien? Nah, shoo. Nesta? Nah, shoo. Weird thought but Tarquin? Yeah, makes her steal his book.

And last but DEFINITELY not least; demon baby wife death

HE COULD'VE TOLD FEYRE... OR ATLEAST NOT THREATENED TO KILL HER SISTER FOR TELLING HER WHEN HE HOULD'VE TOLD HER IN THE FIRST PLACE??

THERE'S PROBABLY MORE BUT MOVING ON

Cassian:

Barely ever stands up for Nesta in the IC

Aids in kidnapping Nesta to Windhaven so she stops spending whysand's money

Laughs at Nesta when she falls down the stairs

Aids in punishing Nesta for daring to tell Feyre important medical info

Constantly going agaisnt Nesta's wishes and trying to "save her" when she doesn't want him to

That one time Azriel asked Nesta if Cass had pushed her down the stairs...Like are we gonna ignore that?? Personally I'd have a quarter life crisis if my closest friend, who is like my sibling and has known me most of our lives, seriously entertained the idea that i would physically assault the girl I like

general aggressiveness all of ACOSF

aids in bulldozing Nesta's apartment

Rowan goddamn Whitehorn (Who I've yet to see people bashing him somehow,,, HoF rowan was like if ACOSF cassian had a horrific murder baby

Left his pregnant mate alone during a war cause he wanted to prove himself....like..idk man if i had the choice between war and taking care of my pregnant wife i'd pick the wife (did he know she was pregnant? i've kind of forgotten by now)

Rowan's kid would've been hundreds of years older than Aelin.....just think abt that

Literally everything he did to Aelin during training in HoF

Their argument where he PUNCHED HER IN THE FACE

Threatened to whip Aelin...I repeat....Threatened to whip Aelin, an ex-slave....

Told Aelin it'd be better if she died 10 years ago (unprovoked?? bitch you met her like 2 weeks ago just cause she's getting on your nerves doesn't mean you gotta wish DEATH upon her)

Literally was relieved to find out she was only 19 because if she was a few years older she could've been THE CHILD OF HIS BEST FRIEND.

No issue with marrying the cousin of his best friend's child....Imagine if he hadn't met Aelin first.. If he'd met Aedion first, Aelin would've always been the relative of his friend's son to him

FOR THE RECORD i hate all of the SJM age gaps but rowan and aelin's specifically irks me because Aelin LITERALLY CALLS HIM OLD throughout the WHOLE SERIES

Literally tells Aelin he doesn't care about what she's been through and that she is nothing to him after she confronts him for leaving her

Puts Luca in danger by sticking him on to a frozen lake with a monster inside where he'll DIE if Aelin can't save him

Funnily enough, some of the only seemingly decent person guys in SJM 1. Are completely forgotten about in the books or 2. SJM had to make them violently unlikeable

Like we've got:

Tarquin, seemed like a pretty good guy, rightfully pissed that the IC stole his family heirloom, shows up like twice in the books (LET HIM COME BACK SARAH I LOVE HIM)

Tamlin, was pretty decent in book 1, was made violently unlikeable in book 2 onwards

Chaol, very strong morals, generally a good person, loves his wife, made violently unlikeable and boring in late CoM, HoF, and QoS (ToD is one of my favorite books in the series, will praise ToD till the day I die, my boy EARNED his own book)

Aedion, seemed like a good person, strong morals, spent years trading his dignity for the sake of Terrasen, loved his cousin above all else, made violently unlikable in KoA (even tho I think he was justified in being angry about it, i'd be SO pissed)

Sartaq, good guy, strong morals, Nesryn's chapters were some of my favorites in ToD, Sartaq is one of my favorite SJM love interests, i'll never forgive author lady for forgetting about him in KoA (tho i guess she forgot about everyone from ToD? Yrene and Chaol are the only important ones, she barely even mentions Nesryn even though Nesryn's BEEN an integral part of the gang since QoS, giving her the Suki from ATLA treatment)

#acotar #sjm #sarah j maas #throne of glass #tog #anti rhysand #anti rowan #anti cassian #anti nessian #anti feysand #chaol westfall #sartaq #tarquin #tamlin #aedion ashryver #nesta deserves better

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st4rgzer · 7 months

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Can you write a about the reader loving Matt sm but knowing he doesn’t like her back. Liek don’t have a super happy ending but also don’t have a super sad one. Do it inspired by me and …

UNREQUITED (matt sturniolo)

summary: the reader experiences some unresponsive feelings from a special someone

genre: angst

cw: taylor swift references maybe…? Is that a warning? Other than that I really don’t think theres much

a/n: as always, @iha8you ‘s request, ly, also dw you’ll get him🙏

This winter had been hell for me, it was always my favorite holiday, the cool air, snow, when it rained and I got to stay home playing boardgames with my mum, or I finally got to read that book that had been collecting dust on my shelf for ages now that it was dark and rainy. No, none of it this year. Every time I hung out with him I held my breath, in fear I’ll do something wrong, take too much space, become too much of a liability. Its stupid, just stupid, I’m his best friend, known him since i was 16 years old, but he seemed so much more older, and wiser.I belittle myself next to him, instead of just letting go, I take a mental note of every little gesture he does that correlates in any way to me, every choice of words, I save them to then divulge them later. It’s draining, not knowing if its just all in your head. If you’ve got it wrong…

“y/n? Hellooo, are you there” i snapped out of my meditative state.I was cross legged on my bedroom floor with two of my closest friends, I didnt even remember what we were talking about anymore.

“yeah sorry i was just distracted” I sighed tying my hair back into a low ponytail and resting my hands on my knees

“we were talking about Matt? Y’know you actually have a chance with him, did you see the way he talked to you earlier?” My friends were only feeding into my delusions, the other nodded in agreement. Even if he did actually see me like that, i dont know what i would do, we’ve been friends since highschool, everything would just be too weird and messy, it wouldn’t be right, no, not with me, not with him.

“No, guys, stop, you’re all just talking nonsense and it just makes everything worse” I groaned, placing my head between my hands.

“C’mon, who could ever leave you?” She says giggling, looking over at my other friend, it wasn’t funny, not in that moment at least. I felt despaired, I know it’s obvious I like him, maybe no one actually takes it seriously when i throw in some extra compliments once in a while of some flirty remarks, but I never try to hide it, except the real thing of course. I know my love should be celebrated, I shouldn’t settle for someone who just tolerates it, but I keep going back to the same thing, always, no matter how many people I see, no matter how many excuses I make to not hang out, its like a moth to a flame, I know im bound to get burnt, trust me. My friends keep convincing me, I feel petty having to listen to them try and make me feel better. Sometimes I come close to actually getting serious then I just think its a waste of time, he just always assumes im fine when my eye contact becomes non existent and my words get mixed up, I dont think he notices it at least, I dont think he ever notices. I guess this means im just doomed, It doesn’t matter how many times my friends reassure me, how many “glances” i pick up from him, Im never going to be one of his main concerns, unrequited. Im always just dimly lit, just enough. I should start trying to accept, settle, “always the bridesmaid, never the bride”.

a/n: this is kind of sht i wrote this at 1:00am, I’ll write more with requests🙏😊😊

#matt sturniolo #sturniolo triplets #matt sturniolo x reader #sturniolo fanfic #matt sturniolo image #matt sturniolo angst

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mirai-e-jump · 6 months

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Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger: Zenryoku Zenkai Book Kiita Komagine x Ryo Sekoguchi Cross Talk (translations below)

Publication: April 15, 2022

-From, "What's with this guy?" to sworn enemies-

"Although Kaito and Stacey were enemies, it was a relationship where a type of friendship gradually developed, but how did you both feel about your roles?"

Sekoguchi: In the beginning, when it comes to Kaito, you feel like, "What with this guy?" He's a completely different person from Stacey, so he couldn't accept him. That's why I felt that he wasn't good around Kaito, and the more he met him, the more he felt against Kaito. If they both weren't interested in each other, they wouldn't have gotten involved with each other. However, they fought each other many times, and there were times where Stacey cared about Kaito, so even though they had different ways of living, I felt that they were attracted towards each other because they had similar cores. I think of them as a comedic version of the relationship between Naruto and Sasuke in "Naruto" (laughs).

Komagine: As Kaito, it wasn't like, "Because it's Stacey" or something like that, he wanted to be friends with everyone, including people and Kikainoids, so I played the role while genuinely wanting to get along with him. Every time they met, Kaito was rejected, but that didn't mean he gave up, and for a year I kept thinking that someday their feelings would reach each other. I didn't waver in that part, and I played the role without abandoning his desire to become friends with Stacey.

"For Kaito, he treats Stacey the same way he treats Juran and the others."

Komagine: That's true. Kaito doesn't really care about appearances or where someone comes from, he just sees them as human…..which not all of them are (laughs), but, he wants to get along with a guy named Stacey, and that's the one thing that never changes.

"He really never got discouraged, huh?"

Sekoguchi: He's really strong mentally (laughs).

"As for Stacey, he's annoyed by the fact that Kaito keeps approaching him, but isn't it more accurate to say that he's someone you can't help but face?"

Sekoguchi: Stacey isn't interested in other people to begin with. However, the first time he met a type of person like Kaito, he stuck with him somewhere in his heart. I don't think even Stacey himself understands how to express the feelings that were created by him. So, I think the reason he has to defeat Kaito is because there's a part of him that's worrisome to Stacey. There's also Zox and the others, but he only thinks of them as troublesome or an annoyance. However, he has to face Kaito, so the way he looks at him is completely different from the way he looks at the other members.

Komagine: This is going to be abit more focused on Kaito, but throughout the year, Kaito seems to have everything, but he doesn't have his parents, and Juran and the other Kikainoids also have lonely pasts because their families are missing. Because of these pasts, Kaito's trying to do his best, so I wonder if he felt the same thing as the Kikainoids, and reached out to Juran and the others. At first, I played the role with straightforward feelings, but Kaito's old friends don't really make an appearance, and there was a side of him that tried to force himself to do his best, which I thought was normal for a boy his age. That might also be why he decided to reach out to Stacey, who was all alone.

"Even though the tone is usually lighthearted, for episodes involving Kaito's parents, the heavy parts are hidden and revealed at crucial moments."

Komagine: This show has the perfect balance of funny and serious.

Sekoguchi: If you don't pay attention, it'll suddenly creep up on you.

Komagine: It's a funny seriousness, or so to say. Like even when Kaito found out his father's true identity (No. 35 Kai!), everyone was saying, "Dia! Dia!" (laughs).

-We learned about each other's personalities through switching places-

"We'd like to ask about each of your performances, but when it comes to the comical aspects, we were impressed by Stacey rushing into the tennis match in No. 29 Kai!."

Sekoguchi: I think that was the first time Stacey acted for someone else. He tried his best to camouflage himself, but it was obvious who he was (laughs).

"When filming scenes like that, do you have to think about how far you want to deviate from your usual character?"

Sekoguchi: I felt that Stacey's character would change once his costume changed, so I played him without changing his inner self at all. It feels like he acted for Yatsude's sake. I think his seriousness is what makes him interesting (laughs).

"Did you enjoy filming it?"

Sekoguchi: I enjoyed it!

Komagine: Since we always do something like that, we're always like, "Here comes the next one!" But in this episode, Ryo-kun was dressed up as Stacey in the form of a tennis player, which was even more refreshing and interesting than usual. Another one, is that he also became a teacher at the school! (No. 33 Kai!).

Sekoguchi: It was because of that World's power (laughs). I was also on the side of the viewers the whole time, so I was able to enjoy it. I felt like I was getting caught up in that position. In No. 32 Kai!, I can't help but think that the two of them swapping places due to Inverted World's power was comical, but also an important episode in the sense that the two of them confirmed things about their respective positions.

Komagine: Since Ryo-kun and I were switching roles, we had alot of discussions with Director (Kyohei) Yamaguchi while reading the script, which we hadn't done since the beginning of filming. We always see each other on set and in the finished footage, so we know each other, but when it comes to acting, it's a different story. Only Ryo-kun understands the details of Stacey, and only I understand the details of Kaito. I felt that there were alot of things that I learned for the first time because we switched roles.

"Like what specifically?"

Komagine: When I'm Kaito, my emotions go from 0 to 100 all at once. It feels like I unknowingly do things as Kaito that I normally wouldn't do. It's done completely unconsciously, so when I looked at Ryo-kun's Kaito, I realized, "So this is how he looks, huh!" We also studied standing posture together, and we learned alot from looking at it objectively.

"What does Sekoguchi-san think?"

Sekoguchi: I felt that Kaito's much more sensitive to various things happening in front of his eyes than we see in the footage or on the set. He looks simple but is complex, looking like a perfectly straight tree with fine branches growing from it. It was a great discovery to find out that our main character has a sensitive side to him that requires constant attention.

Komagine: Speaking of which, I also thought that Stacey would've been fine if he just spoke in a smooth voice and without hesitation, but he's totally different from me in terms of looks, and even when he did the movements that Ryo-kun did, he doesn't look like me, so I wondered what would be the best way to go about it. Kaito faces his opponents head on, but Stacey turns his head the other way. However, if someone's talking to you, you reflexively turn in that person's direction. Ryo-kun doesn't do that…..but, sometimes I wanted to turn, so it was very difficult to get the hang of it (laughs).

Sekoguchi: Also, there were our voices. We each did the actual voicing during the dubbing, but on set, the voices and movements had to be linked. The performance of Kaito, who raises his "voltage" all at once, was the complete opposite of Stacey's, so we had to rewatch past episodes multiple times while working on it.

"Saying that, was the dubbing also difficult?"

Komagine: It was difficult! We had to match the movements of the other's mouth, and I think Ryo-kun felt this way too, but there were parts of him that I couldn't quite match. Still, the viewers who watched it were satisfied, so I'm really happy about that.

Sekoguchi: I wasn't really sure what to say, but somehow the results turned out alright! (laughs).

Komagine: We cleared it with passing marks (laughs).

"Were you aware of any of the characteristics that the other said they discovered?"

Sekoguchi: I feel like I'm already doing things unconsciously. I've been doing this from the beginning, so by the time it was completely ingrained in my body, I was behaving as if it were normal.

Komagine: Maybe we were thinking about it in the beginning, but at this time we were already very familiar with it, so we weren't really conscious of it at that point.

"Listening to you talk about it, it seems like while the swap was fun, it was also a very difficult challenge."

Komagine: It's not just limited to that episode, but even if you think, "It made the cut, so I did a good job," isn't that just a self evaluation? We're doing this so that everyone can see something good, so we can only feel at ease after hearing everyone's reviews. We have to constantly check with all the viewers feedback. Even if I think I did good, if there's a discrepancy in the viewers comments, it's just a difference in my own judgment, so I have to adjust and correct it. I'm definitely nervous until the broadcast date. Especially since I also played the role of Stacey being swapped.

-Stacey welcomes change with friends-

"The development of working with Hakaizer is a turning point for Stacey, and in No. 34 Kai!, the sight of Kaito looking happy saying, "You're working with Hakaizer, right?!" was also memorable."

Komagine: Kaito originally thought that Stacey was all alone, but when he switched places with him, he found out that he was being oppressed at Tojitendo, which convinced Kaito that Stacey was completely alone. When Stacey brought along a comrade for the first time, it made Kaito really happy.

Sekoguchi: At first, Stacey wasn't interested in friends or anything like that, and he was a character who didn't trust people to begin with. However, when switching places, he realized how important human connections are and the things that can come from them. Then, in No. 34 Kai!, when he was told by Kaito, "Isn't it much better to win a whole lot by working together with some friends?," up until then, he couldn't accept it, but he decided to give it a try…..I think that's how he felt.

"Later, in No. 38 Kai! in which Bon World's ability brings him face to face with his mother, Lise, when he's attacked, he's shocked and thinks, "Is the same thing happening to Hakaizer and Goshikida Kaito?……" and we wonder if that was the catalyst for the change."

Sekoguchi: I don't think he would've been able to realize it on his own, but as he interacted with more and more people, he came to learn alot of things, and it may have been because he was attacked by his mother that helped him look at his own actions objectively. At first, he started out wanting to beat and surpass his father, but he came to realize how pathetic he was for acting the same way.

"What did you think of Stacey's development at that time?"

Komagine: Kaito wanted him to be happy, that goes without saying, but he also cared about him and wanted to save him. That's why he went to help him with Hakaizer at that time. Of course, Kaito wanted to become friends even towards the end, but I thought, "What should I do to make Stacey the happiest?"

"While having to win the battle against Tojitendo, Kaito also has to worry about his parents and Stacey, so he's quite busy."

Komagine: I feel that way too. However, he's not the type to try to figure out things. He acts on instinct and intuition, so he just does whatever he wants to do. In No. 5 Kai!, when he says, "Instead of mom and dad, I should've focused on saving everyone by taking down Sushi World," at that moment, Juran intervenes with, "Of course it's important to take care of your own business." Because of that episode, if we don't keep his stance of, "Always ready to go all out for anything!" Kaito's character will be lost. I didn't over think that part, and just went with what was written in the script.

-The difficulties of playing God-

"Towards the very end, there was a twist in which Stacey was possessed by God. As the climax approached, you had to make a big change in performance."

Sekoguchi: It was challenging. Until I read the script, I had no idea what Gege's purpose was, so when I finally found out I was like, "Really?!" (laughs). I felt that I had to break down or forget about Stacey once the mysterious guy entered him, and his character was completely different from my usual way of speaking and facial expressions.

"When your body was being taken over, "(Sweetly)" was written in the dialogue part of the script."

Sekoguchi: I was like, "What do they mean by (sweetly)"?! (laughs). So, I started thinking about whether God has a gender in the first place. I didn't want God to have a gender, so I was conscious of the neutrality of the image, where it's hard to tell whether they're male or female. In addition to God's composure…..I thought that it had to come from within, but that part of the performance was difficult.

"How was it working with Stacey, who was in a different state?"

Komagine: Hmmm…..He’s clearly different. He made me think, "Even if it's not me, you'll notice!" (laughs). But, it was really cool to see Kaito go to God and say, "Is Stacey even fine with this?!" I was like, "That's it!" it's just like Kaito to make a point like that.

Sekoguchi: He says the most straightforward things at any moment (laughs).

"We were surprised to hear him say lines, "I'll become your friend" while he was being controlled."

Sekoguchi: I didn't say it in the original state of Stacey, so it was beyond my own image. I'm alittle sad about it (laughs).

"God leaves Stacey's body after No. 46 Kai! Then, a series of exchanges with Kaito saying, "I mean, Stacey, you're really nice," and Stacey replying, "Stop that!" was also memorable."

Komagine: For the first time, Stacey complained to Kaito with, "I'm tired…." so my feelings when acting were, "I have to do something about this!" Still, I thought the viewers would be nervous to see Stacey leave, and as Kaito, I felt that Stacey's state of mind was wavering between the Zenkaigers and the position he held up until now. There was a feeling of suspense about what was going to happen in the next few episodes. I'm sure that even when he's with everyone else, Kaito is thinking about Stacey, and Stacey is thinking about Kaito. But, the parts that didn't work well together kept coming up, and I kept thinking, "What's going to happen in the end?!"

Sekoguchi: It started with the scene where he looks sad as he watches the Zenkaigers take back Hakaizer. Not only is his only comrade gone, he now has no place to return at Tojitendo. He had to meet Kaito in such a situation where he's lost everything, so at that time, Stacey was in a very weak state of mind. He was already past his limits.

"It was quite a painful development to watch."

Sekoguchi: If I'm allowed to say it, he's simply not good at living…..(laughs). Of course there are many things that make me feel sorry for Stacey as well, but it's definitely due to his own actions up until now. It's no one's fault but his own, and if he doesn't change, nothing will change. In No. 46 Kai!, he's on the verge of understanding his interactions with Kaito. Up until then, I think there was always a part of him that was blaming his surroundings or the people around him.

Komagine: Kaito wanted to help his father, and he achieved that goal, but the fact that he took Stacey's comrade away has always remained with him. In regards to that, when his father told him in No. 41 Kai!, "If you don't want to leave Stacey alone, you need to do something Kaito," I felt that his resolve to save Stacey was strengthened once again.

"Speaking of, when it comes to the Goshikida family, Yatsude is obviously an essential part of Stacey's life, isn't she?"

Sekoguchi: She really saved him. The scene at Colorful where Stacey confides everything to Yatsude was really great.

Komagine: I'm really glad that Yacchan is played by (Sakakibara) Ikue-san. In the scene where Stacey confides in her, there was a part where she stood tall and firm, so as Kaito, I was proud of Ikue-san for taking it seriously. The way she carried herself on the set was wonderful, and I thought I should learn many things from the way Ikue-san makes everyone on the set smile.

Sekoguchi: Stacey 's grateful to the Goshikida family because they gave him so many things. He received love from Yatsude, the father taught him camaraderie and bonds, the mother gave him her blood, and in the end, Kaito taught him friendship. Stacey receives everything that's important to him from the Goshikida family.

Komagine: Since he has the mother's blood in him, he and Kaito might actually be brothers (laughs).

-The two who have finally became friends-

"We were moved by the sight of him finally rushing over to Kaito after his admission to Yatsude in No. 47 Kai!."

Komagine: Up until then, if I grabbed him by the shoulder, he'd shake me off, but this time I was happy because we were able to say things like, "Let's go back together to Colorful," and "That's the plan." I felt like this was the first time someone accepted me, so it was like I was both myself and Kaito! It's hard to imagine Zox and Stacey teaming up to fight together (laughs). That's part was cool too, and I could see the passion these two have, so from No. 47 Kai! to Final Kai! it's really interesting!

"What was it like playing the role of Stacey, who was finally forgiven?"

Sekoguchi: Stacey wasn't thinking about anything in particular at that time, but he was able to become more honest, or rather, he regained his sense of identity. I had the scene with Yatsude-san before that, and based on that scene, he felt embarrassed, but I'm glad he was able to be honest with himself…..I played the role with that kind of nuance. He felt relieved when he saw Kaito, and couldn't help but laugh when Vroon said, "I'm also a former Tojitendo," and it was a moment where I could see the happiness of everyone fighting together.

Komagine: Then there's the final episode, where Kaito has to fight alone in the spirit world, but he realizes that he's not fighting alone, which gives him confidence. I think this also embodies the best part of Super Sentai, where they fight as a team, and the fact that it ends with rock paper scissors is typical of Zenkaiger (laughs). Since the ending seems like a continuation, I can also imagine how each of us will go on our own journeys and become happy, so I'm glad things didn't end with Sushi World! (laughs).

Sekoguchi: The real thrill of Super Sentai was felt towards the end. Each of them had their own problems and were born in different environments, but Stacey, for example, could achieve his goal of defeating Barashitara not alone, but with his friends and comrades. It made me think once again that Zenkaiger is a show filled with such qualities.

-Reflections on the days of our strange friendship-

"At first, where did you think the relationship between the two of them would end up?"

Sekoguchi: I was thinking of all kinds of possibilities, but I stopped thinking about them halfway through and just hoped that the story would progress well. And then God appeared! Whether they're defeated or become friends, each has its own merits.

Komagine: I truly thought that Stacey was going to be defeated. He helped Kaito when they were fighting Barashitara, and at the end, he fought with everyone else as Stacaesar, but they ended up fighting each other. It made it seem like he'd say," I wish I had joined you sooner…..please give my regards to Yatsude….." *whoosh* (disappears).

Sekoguchi: I predicted something like a good ending would happen for "the villain" (laughs).

"It's understood that you all sometimes predicted what was going to happen next."

Komagine: We all did it. I had suggested to the staff that Final Kai World should appear and that it ends with a bang, but they rejected it. "Today is the final episode of Zenkaiger, Final Kai!" and then it would abruptly end…..

Sekoguchi: Who would be satisfied with that?! (everyone laughs). Well, it definitely fits with Zenkaiger (laughs).

Komagine: But, after filming the final episode I thought, "I'm glad it didn't happen!"

"Has your impressions of each other changed up to this point?"

Sekoguchi: They've changed. At first, I heard that he was shy, but now I don't find that to be the case at all.

Komagine: Ryo-kun's appearance is very cute, so I imagined him to have a selfish personality. I thought he was aesthetically pleasing and very beautiful….However, his personality is that of an old mans! (laughs).

Sekoguchi: That's for sure (said straightforwardly).

Komagine: He's so carefree, that he'll even take his clothes off when eating! In a good way, I felt that he wasn't high class or too distant. So I felt that we didn't have to worry about things, and in that way, I felt close to him. It's completely different from my first impression of him when we first met, that's why Ryo-kun feels younger than me even though he's older than me, and I can talk to him freely.

"During filming, there was no particular reason for you not to speak to each other just because your roles were that of enemies."

Komagine: There were none at all (laughs). When the cameras are rolling, I think Zenkaiger is a show where everyone does whatever they want to do in an interesting way, so I usually interacted with Ryo-kun without thinking of him as an enemy or an ally.

"Moving away from the main story, we saw the third part of the Unmasked Warrior series at G Rosso. We thought the part during the play where Kaito encourages Stacey's competitive nature and dances, as well as the teasing relationship between the two of them was adorable."

Komagine: You won't see that in the main story (laughs).

Sekoguchi: Stacey was acting alittle different than usual, so it was difficult!

Komagine: Well, it had a nice feel to it, even if it deviated abit from the regular TV version.

"Was it difficult to perform on stage?"

Komagine: When Stacey says, "Next time we meet, we'll be enemies, so be prepared," and tries to leave, Kaito says, "Why don't we go home dancing?" and Stacey was like, "Why should I…?" But in that scene, they start dancing, and the line shows that Stacey took what Kaito said seriously and as a challenge. I was honestly just trying to say that we should dance (laughs). So when Stacey said, "Oh no!" I was like, "Eh? Eh?"

Sekoguchi: It was difficult to get the timing down for "Oh no!" It's because the lines were different every time.

"The third part is also available on DVD, so we hope everyone will take this opportunity to watch it again (laughs). Could you tell us about some highlights of the fourth part?"

Komagine: We're more involved in it than in the third part, and there's action scenes, so I feel like it's more Zenkaiger like. Some highlights include seeing the transformations of the 5 Zenkaigers, as well as the secret transformation of Flint. Also, Gaon, played by Tsuta (Tsutamune Masato-san), will also appear.

"Wouldn't it be better if it was already played by the actors themselves?"

Komagine: That's true. The person who had been playing Gaon up until then saw Tsuta-san during rehearsal and said, "Ah, the real guy…" and even though he's the same Suit Actor, I thought it was different. It's very reassuring to have Tsuta-san in the fourth part, and it's very easy to work with him. We'll be performing for a while, so I hope you'll enjoy watching it.

Sekoguchi: The overall atmosphere of the fourth part is "cute" (laughs).

Komagine: The relationships in the stage play change before and after the final episode, so I hope you'll enjoy that as well!

"How do you feel looking back at the relationship between the two of you?"

Sekoguchi: Rather than the bond between Kaito and Stacey being formed in the traditional Super Sentai style, they gradually became more aware of each other from a distance, and I thought it was wonderful that in the end, although we didn't express it in words, our hearts were firmly connected. I was thinking about this myself while playing Stacey, but I like the atmosphere that seems to exist between the lines of the story, which isn't captured on film, as their hearts move through the process of becoming friends.

Komagine: Looking back on Zenkaiger, I had alot of fun, and it was so fulfilling that I thought, "There's no better place to be on set than this, huh?" Ryo-kun joined us later, so I wonder if I could've supported him better since I was there from the beginning. But, I was really impressed by the way he played Stacey, to the point where he became a popular character. I'm glad that the actors I was able to work with this time were Acchan (Mashiko Atsuki), Hina-chan (Mori Hinami), and of course Ryo-kun. The popularity of Zenkaiger is largely due to Stacey, so I'm grateful for that as well! (laughs).

Sekoguchi: No, no, don't be ridiculous! It's all thanks to everyone's power in Zenkaiger that it's as popular as it is now!

Komagine: (laughs).

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musings-of-a-rose · 5 months

Note

For the "Leave the first sentence of a fic in my askbox" game:

I thought I knew what love was, but then I met him.

The Meaning of Love

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x f!reader

Word Count: 1026

Rating: Mature - 18+ ONLY!

Warnings: Just like ao3, “creator chooses not to use warnings.” If you click Keep Reading, that means you agree that you’re the age to handle mature themes. Also by clicking Keep Reading, you understand warnings may not be complete in order to avoid spoilers for the story.

**If you want to be added to the taglist, join here or let me know!

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**Reader is not described

Main Masterlist

Bucky Barnes Masterlist

Life comes with expectations. Everyone told me to go to college, get a degree, find a nice man, get married, start a family, grow old together. I intended to do just that, sort of floating through life, not unhappy but not entirely happy either. Like I hadn’t found the exact fit.

Then I met Jeremy and my life became brighter. We met my senior year of college, literally bumping into each other in the bookstore on campus. He’d spilled coffee all down my front and I laughed, as I’d had to change my shirt earlier that day for doing the exact same thing to myself. He was studying business, his days spent mostly in the library with his nose buried in books or online, trying to keep up with the latest business trends. I was majoring in elementary education with a minor in creative writing, so I definitely spent my fair share in the library too.

Wherever we went, we had a good time. Jeremy was respectful and kind to me, always making sure I ate, knowing that often I’d forget to. We were together about 6 months before confessing our love for one another, and at a year, he asked me to move in with him. We were well on our way to finishing the typical expectations. Everyone kept asking me if he’d popped the question or when he was going to put a ring on it. We talked about marriage and it was something we were both interested in. It was the normal flow of life.

What no one expected was for me to suddenly gain powers, become what people call an inhuman.

It happened randomly one day. I was out for a run when suddenly, I tripped. But instead of slamming my palms into the ground, it cracked beneath me, ripples of concrete fanning out from where my palms hovered above the ground. I scrambled back and landed on my ass, scooting backwards from the partially sunken sidewalk. My breath shaking, I look at my hands - not a mark on them. It was probably nothing. A coincidence. But what else could do this?

I called Jeremy as I walked home quickly, asking him what could have caused the sidewalk to crack like that. Of course he was quick to tell me to sue the county, that the sidewalk was dangerous and could’ve seriously injured me. That was just the way he was.

I got home and took a shower, letting the hot water cascade over my shoulders, willing them to relax as I looked down at my palms again. I was so focused on what I was doing, I didn’t hear Jeremy come in. When he touched my shoulder I jumped, my hands coming up to shield myself. But then Jeremy flew back against the door, his back nearly leaving an imprint in the shape of him.

“I’m so sorry!” I started to cry, looking down at my palms and back at Jeremy. “I don’t know what’s happening to me!”

“Y-you did this?” He choked out, staring at me.

I nod. “I thought the sidewalk was random but this? I don’t…I don’t know what’s happening to me.”

He started to stand up and I took a step towards him, but he threw his hands up, fear flooding his eyes.

“Stay back!”

I stopped. “Jeremy? What..what do you mean?”

His hand scrambles for the door handle, hand scraping against the wood. “Don’t come any closer!”

“Jer..it’s me. I just..I don’t know what’s happening. I need help.” I take another step but he finds the handle and turns it, running out the door but not before he looks at me, fear and anger in his gaze.

“Get away from me, you freak!”

—----

That was 10 years ago. I never saw Jeremy again after that night and I rarely dated, never trusting anyone fully. If Jeremy could be so in love with me and leave me in an instant, how could I ever trust again?

I never went into teaching. No one wanted an inhuman teaching their kids. I did discover more about myself, what it meant to be an inhuman. Someone with powers. But I never trusted anyone.

Then Clint Barton found me, alone and living in my car. He offered me his hand and told me to come with him, that I would be more than welcome at the Avenger compound. Unfortunately, people there still walked on eggshells around me, never sure if I’d “go off”. Then one day, a firm knock raps on my door and I answer it, breath catching in my throat at the most beautiful, troubled man I’ve ever laid eyes on.

Bucky Barnes, aka The Winter Soldier.

He looked like he was bracing for the worst, for my eyes to go wide and to retreat back into my room. But it was very much the opposite, my curious eyes tracing down his metal arm and landing on the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen.

“Clint told me you needed training?”

“Oh. Uh I guess so?”

“Come on.”

Bucky trained me how to control my powers, using the skills he learned since getting rid of the brainwashing Hydra had put there. He taught me how to use my powers for my own self, using them to protect others. But he also taught me that in my solace, in others fear of me, fear of myself, of my own power, that I was not alone. He had been through the same thing and was still battling it himself. We eventually found ourselves pressed together, my legs and heart opening to accept him, all of him, as he whispered praises and love in my ear, our bodies melting together.

I thought I knew what love was, but then I met him. Bucky was the missing piece of my life that I had been waiting for. He sees me, loves me for me, isn’t afraid of me. And all of that love and adoration is reflected back at him through my eyes. I can’t imagine my life without him and I know I’ll follow him past the end of the line.

—----

General Taglist:

@frankie-catfish-morales @chaoticgeminate @janebby @astoryisaloveaffair @balekanemohafe @greeneyedblondie44 @hoeforthefictional @marvelousmermaid @hauntedmama @giuliarogers @icanbeyourjedi @wretchedmo @sunnshineeexoxo @livingmydreams13 @adventures-of-a-noodle @Sara-alonso @theewokingdead @punkerthanpascal @giggly-otter @f0rever15elf @phandoz @dirtytissuebox @gallowsjoker @lovesbiggerthanpride @sarahmilesbendrix @booksarekindaneat @mrsudontknowme @swol-bear @charlispersonallyhell @xoxabs88xox @amneris21 @gooddaykate @alindeluce @avengers-fixation @paintballkid711 @harriedandharassed @ladykatakuri @marrianena @practicalghost @withakindheartx @batdarkladyvampir @justanotherkpopstanlol @mermaidxatxheart @alexxavicry @ichigodjarin @justreblogginfics @sullyosully @kmc1989 @veryprairieberry

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes x f!reader #bucky barnes x female reader #winter soldier x reader #winter soldier x you #winter soldier x f!reader #winter soldier x female reader #bucky barnes #winter soldier #james buchanan barnes #sebastian stan #sebastian stan character #sebastian stan characters #sebastian stan character fanfic #sebastian stan character fanfiction #sebastian stan character ff

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ballblender · 11 months

Text

“One bed!?"

Kagami Taiga x Manager!Reader

(Saw a list of generic romance tropes and couldn’t help myself)

cw: sfw, fluff + comedy (except i’m not funny), timeskip match predictions, kagami being an awkward giant, the one bed trope, aged up (kagami and reader are both 18 after the interhigh), manga ending (kagami stays in japan in the manga, unlike the movie)

The last two years were, a lot to say the least. Not only had the Vorpal Swords taken off shortly after the match against Jabberwock, but with the permanent addition of Kagetora as manager of the Seirin basketball team, Kagami had a lot on his plate.

It was difficult when the second, or should I say third, years graduated. The reliance and foundation built between them was one not easily replaced. Additionally, despite the newfound popularity of the team, it stayed relatively small. Inevitably, this led to Seirin’s defeat in the Interhigh.

With the Winter Cup in sight, he really just wanted to feel that glory again, winning with his old Serin teammates.

And he did, thanks to your help. As a younger friend of Riko, you had asked to be the manager for Seirin after hearing of their loss in the Interhigh, and given your friendship with their old coach, the team was in no position to refuse your offer.

And upon seeing the results that your suggestions produced, they were ready to keep you by any means possible.

By the time the Winter Cup came around, it was as if Seirin was a new team entirely; their coordination and plays were extremely effective against teams of any caliber, and the bonds between the members ensured their success.

It was also because of this display that Kagami found himself becoming increasingly drawn to you, for reasons made clear to him by Kuroko.

"You like her don't you?"

"WHAT? I DO NOT- i do."

"Yeah, I thought so."

And so the saga began. Kagami would start to grow more and more awkward around you. This caused a bit of a problem, as you began to think that he was getting sidetracked, and as the most powerful player on the team, causing the other players efforts to go to waste slightly.

It only got worse when you took him to the side to speak with him alone, and expressed your concern for his lack of concentration. He just stuttered and wasn't sure how to respond.

"Kagami, I seriously need you to listen to me..."

"I-i understand...I'll do m-my best for you and the team."

Out of nowhere, you hugged him tightly, which caught him completely off guard.

"I'm glad you understand..."

After practice that day, Kagami felt so light.

The night before the final against Rakuzan, the team, thanks to the school's newly increased budget (and a little pocket change from Riko), decided to stay at a nearby hotel with a gym so that they could get some morning training in before the big game.

However, upon arrival at the front desk, you ran into a problem.

"B-but I swear I booked 7 rooms..."

"I'm sorry, but there are only 6 listed here..."

You sigh.

"Are there any rooms available?"

"Yes, however there is only one bed opposed to the three in the other 6."

"...it's fine, i'll take it, sorry for the trouble, and thank you."

You walk over to the lobby, where the other members are waiting to get into their rooms.

"What took so long? Was there a problem with our rooms?" Kuroko asks.

"There was actually...so one of you will have to stay with me in a different roo-"

"Kagami will do it."

"K-Kuroko! Don't just say that!" Kagami whisper-yells, face turning redder each word.

The other members shrug in agreement, wanting to be in their own shared rooms to be able to freely discuss whatever they wanted without the eyes of their manager watching over them.

Kagami learns pretty quickly that trying to fight is useless. It's adorable, you think to yourself. The team heads up to their block of rooms, while you and Kagami take a different route to your room.

It looks like you forgot to tell him one detail though...

"One bed!?"

"Yeah, I hope that's okay... Unless any of the other guys let you sleep with them in their beds, we have to share."

Before you can even utter another word, Kagami is zooming across the hotel to the other players' rooms, knocking on each door.

Unfortunately for Kagami, with his size comes consequences. None of the other players wanted to share their already small beds with the biggest player on their team, even Kuroko.

"Y/N is smaller than me, sharing a bed should be no issue for the two of you." Kuroko states.

Kagami just lies on the floor, burying his red face in his hands.

"gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..."

A knock on the door is heard by the others, and they open the door.

"Hey, have you guys seen Kaga- oh, there he is."

At the sound of your voice, Kagami springs up, wiping the dust and lint off of himself.

"Y-Y/N! I-i..."

Knowing that letting him resist and even just speak anymore would result in Kagami most likely passing out, Kuroko says,

"Kagami was just about to go back to your room, he just needed to borrow some deodorant. He's forgetful like that."

Kagami shoots Kuroko a death-glare, in a way that screams "Are you my wingman or what!?"

You nod in acknowledgement and turn to Kagami, smiling "That's okay, just get back soon!"

The moment you leave,

"Ow-ow-ow...what was that for...?" says Kuroko, Kagami's hands digging into his shoulders.

Kagami just stares at him with desperate eyes.

"Come on Kuroko...let me stay with you..."

"That's perfect, say that to Y/N and you guys will be dating in no time."

"...You're the worst..."

You lay on the bed, sprawled out, tapping through all of the outdated TV channels logged into the hotel's TV. (a/n needed to add this to rant: WHY ARE ALL HOTEL ROOM TV CHANNELS OLD AND PIXELATED IT DRIVES ME INSANE)

"...G-got any room for me...?"

You spring up in shock, and notice Kagami standing at the door, blushing like mad, avoiding eye contact.

You roll to the side and pat the other half meant for Kagami.

"I guess the others didn't let you sleep in their beds."

"...y-yeah..." Kagami squeaks, as he feels your shoulder touch his.

You, of course, are not oblivious to his feelings. It was bugging you that Kagami seemingly avoided you whenever you tried to talk to him, but the rosy cheeks and unintentional voice cracks whenever he'd try to talk to you.

May as well see where this goes...

You intentionally brush your thigh up against his under the guise of reaching for the remote on the other side.

"...ah..."

You giggle, noticing his tiny sounds. It's truly unbelievable that such a big player's demeanour can be reduced to a mouse's under the right circumstances.

"Hm? What's wrong?" you ask, though, you know exactly what you're doing to him.

"..."

You decide to let it go, especially since Kagami looks like he'd explode if you pestered him any longer.

As the time passes, you decide to ask Kagami, "Are you ready to sleep now?"

He was trying his best until this point, he was. But the thing he'd been...dreading? Anticipating? Whatever it was, he was not prepared.

The moment you switch off the lights, you're met with Kagami's arms hugging you tightly.

"K-Kagami what-"

"...please..."

It's warm. His embrace makes you feel safe. You decide not to speak again, and instead, you both fall asleep, comforted by each other's warmth.

-----

sorry this is out so late LOL

#kuroko no basket #kurokos basketball #kuroko tetsuya #kagami taiga #kagami x reader #knb x reader #knb fluff #kuroko no basuke #kurobas

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cevansbrat0007 · 1 year

Note

Okay!! What if reader took this and sent it to Andy? It’s obvi Bebe and Koko! Andy would be so sad😂

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CmPrl-5JTKe/?igshid=NTdlMDg3MTY=

Baby Blush

Summary: You send Andy an adorable video of your girls and their playground crush, which sends his blood pressure through the roof.

Warnings: Fluff, Girl!Dad Andy Barber, Mentions of Pregnancy, Allusions to Smut, Cursing, Minors DNI

A/N: Part of my ongoing Growing Pains Series. Likes, comments, and reblogs are appreciated. All mistakes are my own. My sleeping pills have kicked in. I'll do more edits after I wake up.

___

"Hey, baby." You smile into the phone as you watch your little BiBi chase her younger sister around the playground. "How are -?"

"Who the fuck was that?" Andy interrupts as he shuffles what sounds like papers in his office.

"Who?" You ask, pretending to be confused about the source of your husband's displeasure.

"That delinquent - the one who was making eyes at both my daughters." KitCat blows you a kiss which you pretend to catch, all the while trying not to laugh. Because you knew exactly who your man was talking about.

Just like you knew that sending him that adorable video would more than likely cause a spike in his blood pressure.

"Oh! You mean the cutie pie?" You chirp into the receiver, taking a sip of your cinnamon spice tea. "Wasn't that just the sweetest thing? And their little blushes..."

"No." Comes his stubborn grunt. "My girls are too young to blush. Especially over some player fresh out of the sandbox."

Tossing your book aside, your hand goes to rest on the swell of your pregnant belly. You listen patiently to your husband as he continues to rant while you keep a mindful eye on your babies as they take turns going down the slide.

"- And like I keep telling you, baby girl, these boys are only after one motherfucking thing! They emerge from the womb with the urge to seek and destroy."

"I know that's what you keep saying. But I would like to point out that he's also only six-years-old, my love." At this point, you can practically hear your Andy Bear raking an agitated hand through his hair.

"So what? I don't care if the kid just got out of diapers, I'm not gonna let some sticky-fingered casanova corrupt my little princesses. Ain't gonna happen." He hisses as he rifles through his desk drawers for something. You secretly hope it's that tube of lavender essential oil you'd accidentally left behind in one of the compartments during his last office get-together.

Shit calmed him down. And it was seriously beginning to sound like he could use a good whiff.

"Well, Andrew, I just spoke with his parents about getting together for a playdate. Turns out, Romeo has a little brother right around Katrina's age so --"

You're interrupted once again with more inane blustering from the love of your life and father of your two, soon to be four, children.

"His name is Romeo? As in 'oh, where for art thou'? And what the hell's his brother's name? Othello? Just no, Y/N."

Blowing out a breath, you decide that there is no point in trying to explain the differences between the two Shakespearean tragedies. Over the years you'd learned that he would eventually tire himself out all on his own.

"Actually, it's Luca. But okay, Big Man."

"Hmph! You keep forgetting that as the head of this household, it's my job to protect my girls, all five of you, from outside threats." You hear what sounds like something being slammed on his desk. Perhaps a paper weight. "And anything with a - a dangling participle is a threat, prepubescent or not."

"Uh huh. You got your oils, honey?" You look down at your nails as you internally try to justify the need for a new manicure. "I'm just curious."

"If I snort any harder, it'll be lodged halfway up my left nostril." He grouses, followed by an exaggerated sniff.

If you looked up the definition of that word in the dictionary, all you would find was a picture of your handsome man's face.

"Very good." With a sigh, you pull the phone away from your ear to check the time. Another thirty minutes and you'd be ready to head home. "You know, since you're the, uh, man of the house, how would you feel about philly cheesesteak sandwiches and fries for dinner tonight?"

"Sounds delicious. But back to this Romeo character --"

"We're meeting Romeo and his family for a playground and coffee date this Sunday at 2:00pm. And before you ask, the answer is no. No weapons, no interrogations, and no threats of jail time or anything involving any other potentially serious legal ramifications."

Had you covered everything? Maybe. Maybe not. Andrew Barber could be a lot sometimes.

"Y/N, sweetheart, I am in charge here." Andy growls, not liking any of what you just said. "And that means -"

"It means would you like waffle or sweet potato fries?" A beat goes by, letting you know that you've got him thinking.

"Waffle." Comes the quiet, bordering on sullen, huff.

"Excellent choice, sir. And speaking of choices, we'll need to leave the house by 1:30 if we're going to be on time for coffee." Standing, you begin to collect your things before attempting to wrangle the girls. "I've gotta hop off and grab the ladies, Big Man. I'll see you at home, but I also feel the need to warn you..."

"Warn me about what?" He growls, not even bothering to hide the fact that he's pouting on the other end of the phone. All six-foot-something feet of him.

"That I've already prepared my closing arguments, just in case you want to go another round about this. And I'm gonna win, with or without a jury."

"Oh, is that so?" Andy snorts.

"It is. Especially if you want me to do that thing you like tonight, or any other night for that matter."

"You talkin' about the thing you do when you wear..?" His voice trails off as his thoughts begin to drift in a different, much naughtier direction.

"Yep. C'mon babies. We've gotta go make something yummy for Daddy for dinner!"

Another beat of silence.

"So...2:00pm on Sunday. Fine." He mutters with a resigned sigh. "But I'm not gonna smile for any of it." You can practically hear the wheels turning in that beautiful mind of his. "And you're wearing the outfit tonight, complete with the heels."

"You've got yourself a deal, Big Man."

END

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checkoutmybookshelf · 5 months

Text

From Criminial Mastermind to Fairy Tale Hero: The End of Artemis Fowl

Here we are, everyone: The final Artemis Fowl book. It has been a journey revisiting the first series I was old enough to follow and fandom, and it's wild to me that we're finally at the end. Especially since I picked up the first Artemis Fowl book in late elementary school (I'm genuinely not sure when though, because the first book came out in April of 2001, when I was in fifth grade and it's very possible I didn't pick the book up until sixth grade, which would have put me at 11, same age as Artemis in that first book) and the final book came out in 2012, when I was in my junior year of undergrad. So at that point, Artemis, Holly, and Butler had been part of my life for a long time. And now here we are, to say goodbye to them again after this leisurely re-listen/read. Let's talk Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian.

Artemis grew and changed so much across eight books, which makes sense because holy cow do kids change a LOT between 11 and 15. We get so busy living life in those years that we don't really think about how much we truly learn and grown between prepubescence and full-on teenagerhood, but that is a time of massive change, and I think that more than anything else really justifies how Artemis goes from a chillingly vampiric child to a teenager with enough compassion and empathy to understand that sometimes the right choice is a heroic self-sacrifice for the people that your people (both humans and the people, in this case) love. Artemis also did a really interesting version of that thing so many teenagers do where they hit a point where they can't just phone in their abilities anymore and have to actually put effort in, but for Artemis it was emotional rather than intelligence. And yet even when making said heroic sacrifice, we have the absolutely beautiful callback to the end of book one, where Artemis drugs his mother, Butler, and Juliet to keep them from being harmed by the bio-bomb. To stop Holly from preventing him from stopping Opal, Artemis sedates her. The more things change, the more they stay the same...

Except where best villain ever Opal Koboi is concerned. By this book, Opal is so disconnected from reality that she is willing to risk literally going nuclear to escape captivity, and then just...casually sparks off the apocalypse because if there is one thing our girl wants, it's to be Empress of the World, and if that means using spirit zombies and an ancient fairy doomsday device, then I guess it's a good thing she's already versed in black magic. Or something. Opal is fully and completely off the rails at this point, and if you catch yourself referring to yourself as "Mommy" in reference to the spirits of several scores of ancient elven berserkers who would--barring a geas--murder you for it, you might want to stop and take a long, hard look at your life choices. And maybe don't forget that you've cloned yourself, because that's the kind of little detail that can completely ruin your chances of being Empress of the World.

Holly quite possibly deserves every medal that exists for managing to drag Artemis's extremely out-of-shape butt through increasingly dangerous and high-stakes missions while navigating fairy politics and *checks notes* breaking up with her commanding officer after a disastrous date where they both got kicked out of a crunchball match. (And once again...HOW DARE Colfer leave this in exposition and not show us this amazing disaster of a date!?!?) Holly has also just been through the emotional wringer with Artemis and every time he decided to double-cross or lie by omission to bring off a plan and every time he does something infuriatingly human that drives up her blood pressure and yet makes the mission succeed. And then she has to sit there and watch him die to save humans and fairies. Seriously, the fact that Holly Short is a functional being rather than a hot mess is nothing short of a miracle.

And then we come to Butler. Long-suffering, super fucking over it, broken-hearted Domovoi Butler. Artemis got DAMN lucky that the whole "put my spirit in a clone of me" plan panned out, because if it hadn't, Holly was entirely correct: Butler would never have recovered. Butler and Opal might be my two favorite characters in the entire series at this point. That's not where I started--for a very long time, Holly was my favorite character, and Commander Root still gets an honorable mention--but as a grown-ass adult (I'm not doing that math for you, if you want to know that I'm old, you do the math), I cannot escape how dedicated, competent, kind, and just AWESOME Butler is. I feel like the vibe here is very similar to the thing that happens when you watch Sound of Music as a kid and either Maria or one of the kids is your favorite character, but when you come back to it as an adult, Captain Von Trapp is EVERYTHING (RIP Christopher Plummer, we loved you). Butler has a similar vibe but in a different genre.

So, I was an adult and had enough experience of watching fandoms to see the mixed reactions to this book being released. People were sad the series was ending, people were disappointed because the series had seemingly drifted, and people loved it. My reaction was pretty mixed, because I had a lot going on, I knew there were good things here but I was also kind of missing the heisty, criminal mastermind vibes, but also OPAL KOBOI. So I was pretty unsure how to feel about this book when it came out, and then I didn't reread it for literal years because I went to grad school.

Returning to this book now, I have suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuch respect for how Colfer tied up the series and how he pulled off a new Irish mythological cycle, but updated for the twenty-first century. I have enough life on me to appreciate the changes Artemis goes through, and enough literature degrees to have a new and deeply fulfilling perspective on the series structure. Last Guardian is not my favorite book of the series--it's not even in the top three--but I think that what it does is genuinely impressive and I love how you can finish this book and go instantly back into the OG Artemis Fowl. The story does not, strictly speaking, have to end. And that is a vibe I can 100% get behind.

I deeply love the Artemis Fowl books, and I cannot recommend the series enough. They have so many strengths, are incredibly well-written, and they live rent-free in my head even now as an adult.

#artemis fowl #eoin colfer #artemis fowl the last guardian #artemis fowl and the last guardian #domovoi butler #holly short #opal koboi #children's literature #children's books #books and reading #books & libraries #books and novels #books #book recommendations #middle grade sci fi #middle grade books #middle grade fantasy #middle grade fiction

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foundfamilynonsense · 8 months

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Rereading Rick Riordan books bc hey the tv shows coming out soon and I have questions about what Camp Jupiter was like before the titan war.

Like. I’m gonna go on a limb and say they did not have access to the Big Three prophecy about Percy. Because… it was about Percy. And if the Romans also had access to the prophecy Jason would have been haunted by it growing up, but he never mentions it in the books.

Not to mention the smaller reasons. Like… Camp Jupiter doesn’t have an oracle. Major prophecies are found in ancient texts. And since this prophecy was made at the end of WWII idk how the Roman’s would know about it. And the fact that Zeus/Poseidon/Hades aren’t really considered the “big three” in Roman mythology. I mean they are technically, but Neptune isn’t really a big deal at all and Pluto got a downgrade. #1 is Jupiter and then #2 is Mars. So the prophecy doesn’t really make sense for them anyway

But like. If there’s no prophecy, that raises different questions.

Jason is the only Roman son of Jupiter born since WWII. But before WWII Jupiter/Zeus was as Horny as he was in the myths (I’m assuming). So it suddenly goes from dozens of children of Jupiter every ten years or so to fucking zero? And then one turns up suddenly? Same with Neptune and Pluto, honestly. All of a sudden, bam, no more children.

And it’s not like we can say “well maybe the Roman versions of the big three weren’t held to the oath” bc we know Jason is the only son of Jupiter for a while bc he says it. And Hazel was born before the pact was made and brought back to life bc, plot-wise, she couldn’t have been born during the pact, hades/Pluto was the only one to keep the oath.

And you can’t even say they knew about the oath just not the prophecy, bc no one brings up said oath to Hazel or Percy when they show up randomly. They’re not suddenly worried about gods breaking promises.

So what was going through the Roman’s heads? Jason says a lot about being held to a high standard bc he was a child of Jupiter but I think that’s an understatement.

Imagine the camp goes 5-6 decades without a single child of Jupiter. No one knows why, bc Jupiter’s a bit of a slut and that’s really not like him. And then all of a sudden this feral two year old shows up. And he’s a son of Jupiter. And… that’s it. No explanations, no prophecies, nothing?

“Ok Romans. You thought no children of Jupiter was ominous? Well here is exactly one child of Jupiter all of a sudden. He is also two years old but Lupa expects him to be recruited immediately. Good luck.”

I mean seriously that kid must have been an urban legend.

At least with Percy everyone knew why Poseidon hadn’t had any kids in the last 5 decades. Even if Percy was technically some terrible omen of bad things coming towards Olympus at least the Greeks knew what to do with him. The Romans were lucky Jason is an all American boy who worked his way up the ranks. If he had been like Percy he’d have easily become an eldritch horror by the age of four.

#percy jackson #pjo #jason grace #rick riordan

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hozukitofu · 8 days

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not a ship post but how funny would it be for people to mix shino and kiba's names up? at some point people give up and call them by 'shiba' just because it's guaranteed to send both kids running (we are talking genin-age).

tsume at some point: shi - ki - argh whatever SHIBA!

shino and kiba tuning into a very old summoning technique - call your kids the wrong name jutsu: THAT'S NOT MY NAME!!

bonus fun facts

tsume and hana had genuinely mixed up shino, kiba and akamaru. shino by virtue of his association with kiba had been called akamaru more times than his name. he's used to it

kakashi has a ninken named shiba that runs loose and he doesn't genuinely want to summon kibashino but somehow they've been trained to react to the name so kakashi is walking the street calling for shiba (the dog) and two teenagers (shiba - shino and kiba - unholy duo) turn up like 'you called?'

people who haven't met shino or kiba before think shiba is their name

shino and kiba have called each other shiba completely on instincts and now they just sigh and move on

it was funny when they were 12 but now naruto can't tease kiba anymore because kiba hypes up shino like you wouldn't believe. every team needs a cool guy and kiba nominates shino for this title (he literally told everyone but shino and hinata)

actually convenient to summon all three of them (akamaru is now part of the shiba bundle). imagine you're out in a field then suddenly there's a dog, a dog ninja and a bug ninja summoned from thin air. i'd retire

easier to shift blame. kiba played this card well into adulthood. he's perfected 'did you mean to call for shino or kiba?' and when people try to deliberate this he would disappear

shino's kids at the academy call him 'shiba sensei' and it stuck. they think shino's legal name is shiba aburame

kakashi somehow worked out a deal with akamaru and occasionally takes the massive dog out for a walk with all his 8 dogs (sometimes even without kiba knowing). when asked, he makes sure to introduce akamaru as shiba 2.0 and akamaru would nod and shake (why does he have two dogs name shiba? why not?)

it's listed in bingo books under aliases and as someone who have to endure bureaucracy weekly, making changes is akin to hell so people leave 'shiba' where it is. the trouble is that both shibas get in a rotten mood if they hear 'are you shiba?' from an enemy because that should really never leave village gossip

kiba very seriously said one day that if they get married it would be mr shiba aburame or shiba inuzuka x2 (think mr and mrs taylor lautner) and shino gave him fleas

mirai doesn't know who is who but she does know shiba. shino will let her have that one up until the age of 3

a lot of people just assumed they got married somewhere along the way? anbu delivering messages for kiba sometimes would find shino who's dead on his feet and would receive the message like it's for him. ANBU: are you mr inuzuka? shino who is too tired to correct the joke at this point: yes i am. people call kiba mr aburame in the same vein except kiba takes it with more fanfare

tsume wasn't that happy they eloped without her knowledge but shibi also genuinely doesn't know what's going on and he's not going to ask shino, so they roll with it and have family dinners between the two clans every fortnight and the shiba trio don't register this as anything unusual

im southeast asian and my aunt was a teacher so the spouse of a teacher is also a teacher by association. what this means is that kids also call kiba sensei. inuzuka sensei. shiba sensei. kiba who had never taught in his life after a child incorrectly identified him as married to his best friend and also his first name: yes sensei is here. how can i help you my child

when they do get married they were threatened by the clan elders to actually say kiba (shiba) aburame (he is a second son and the aburames love akamaru) and shino likewise dutifully put (shiba) on his actual legal marriage certificate

#naruto #naruto shippuden #kiba inuzuka #shino aburame #kibashino #both a shitpost but also sincere minific #all my good memories are with kibashino!!

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soopersara · 8 months

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For reasons that have everything and nothing to do with the most recent chapters of I&S, I've been thinking a lot about a time travel AU that I will absolutely never write.

Specifically, I want a time travel AU where little-kid!Zuko (age 9-10) travels forward in time and meets angry-teen!Zuko (we're talking like... the Book 1 egghead version of angry-teen!Zuko here). I know that sounds like a disaster waiting to happen, but the way I envision this playing out is:

Teen!Zuko and kid!Zuko meet, and after a healthy amount of confusion, figure out that they're two different versions of the same person. Kid!Zuko is... not thrilled to be stuck on a rickety old ship with a much grumpier version of himself, but hey! Uncle Iroh is here, and he's got lots of board games and even more free time, so it could be worse. Teen!Zuko, meanwhile, is having a bit of a crisis as he gets slapped in the face with several realizations all at once.

Realization #1: A warship is not a good place for a 9-10 year old boy to live, but there's literally nowhere else in the world where kid!Zuko will be safe. For as long as kid!Zuko is stuck in this timeline, teen!Zuko has to look after him.

Realization #2: Oh, shit. No one has seriously fucked up kid!Zuko yet. His life obviously hasn't been perfect, but this is pretty much the peak of kid!Zuko's sweet-and-innocent phase.

Realization #3: ... as fucked up as teen!Zuko's life has been, he desperately doesn't want to be the person who fucks up kid!Zuko's life.

Cue teen!Zuko scrambling to get his shit together so that he can be a reasonably healthy and stable guardian/big brother figure for his younger self. He starts working on his temper and trying to take Iroh's advice more seriously, and while things don't always go smoothly (kid!Zuko definitely picks up some vigilante tendencies from teen!Zuko. There may or may not be sightings of a tiny Blue Spirit causing trouble up and down the Earth Kingdom coast), teen!Zuko eventually figures out what he's doing. He puts in the work to become a decent role model, he deals with some of his own shit (and his outlook on life improves), he grows to see kid!Zuko as the little brother he never had, and he generally doesn't fuck anything up too badly.

Basically, looking after kid!Zuko teaches teen!Zuko self love (but with extra steps! I don't think grumpy-teen!Zuko could ever learn anything the simple way 😂)

All of that growth makes it harder and harder for teen!Zuko to ever envision himself returning to the Fire Nation. After all, if he wouldn't put his younger self through the pain of going back there and dealing with Ozai, why should he put his present self through that? And on a related note, kid!Zuko definitely has questions about teen!Zuko's scar and banishment. When teen!Zuko reaches a point where he's able to think about the Agni Kai, he can't imagine anything that kid!Zuko could ever do to deserve that kind of treatment, which leads teen!Zuko to question whether he deserved it. And as teen!Zuko starts to come to grips with the fact that he's probably never going back home - certainly not if it would mean putting kid!Zuko through the same pain that teen!Zuko experienced there - he has to start considering what other options he has for the future.

Kid!Zuko may or may not accelerate teen!Zuko's redemption arc even more by befriending various members of the Gaang and dragging his 'big brother' along to meet his new friends/disappearing for a few hours with his new friends only to be 'rescued' by teen!Zuko who is... very surprised and very awkward about it when he realizes who kid!Zuko is hanging out with.

There are obviously lots of time travel AUs out there already, but apparently this one is just going to live in my brain for the forseeable future 😂 As much as I love the standard "post-redemption!Zuko meets Book 1 Zuko and mentors his younger self to accelerate his own redemption/drags himself kicking and screaming toward redemption" time travel AUs that I see around the fandom, I think I'm just hungry for a time travel AU where pre-redemption!Zuko doesn't know what his future could look like. To me, there's just something really appealing about the idea of a time travel AU where his redemption gets accelerated not because he knows his life will get better if he becomes a better person, but because he wants to be someone who his younger self can be proud of.

#atla headcanons #zuko #zuko headcanons #time travel au #now it's time for me to go back to daydreaming #about the Zutara variant of this AU #where either Katara finds kid!Zuko first and has to find him a permanent guardian #which can only be teen!Zuko or Iroh #and since she's bonded with kid!Zuko by the time that she finds teen!Zuko and Iroh #she can't get herself to just drop off kid!Zuko and run #so they all strike an uneasy alliance #OR the other version #where kid!Zuko and teen!Zuko are traveling together from the beginning #and when Katara comes into the Ba Sing Se teashop #kid!Zuko starts playing with Momo #then teen!Zuko tries to get his 'little brother' to stop bothering the customers #Katara sees teen!Zuko #and Zutara-flavored teashop shenanigans ensue #zutara

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carnivorousladybug · 1 year

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A Character Study: Aemond from House of the Dragon

Almost 4k words. My thoughts on Aemond Targaryen. This is me trying to make sense of his character and guessing his motivations. I'm focusing mainly on the show so I did not mention Daeron.

To the greens, Aemond was the spare. To the blacks, he was even less than that.

In the show, he was born after The Green Dress stunt at Rhaenyra's wedding, when Alicent got rid of her Targaryen red and black dresses in favor of Hightower green, signaling her true allegiance. Sides are declared. The die is cast. In the book, Alicent's stunt wouldn't be pulled until a year after Aemond was born, but I like the show's timing better.

I like the idea of Alicent being in full-on war mode while she was pregnant with him. It would be fitting, knowing she would give birth to a baby boy with a choleric temperament. The boy who would one day grow up to be the young man whose actions started the Dance of the Dragons.

Aemond as might as well pull an Athena and come out of the womb fully dressed in armor and ready for war.

From the time Aemond was old enough to understand, the tension between his mother and half-sister had been so thick that you could cut it with a knife.

In the show, Aemond and Jace are roughly the same age, so Jace was probably born not long after Aemond (I'm guessing their age difference is a year max). Then Rhaenyra churns out two more bastard kids throughout the duration of Aemond's youth. Growing up, this boy would’ve been mighty familiar with hearing questions about his nephews' legitimacy as more and more rumors of Rhaenyra's trysts with Harwin Strong spread throughout King's Landing.

To properly understand Aemond's childhood, we need to talk about Aemond's momma, Alicent Hightower. Mommy dearest.

Alicent was literally a teen mom who had been forced to grow up too quickly. After Viserys fired Otto and her friendship with Rhaenyra disintegrated, she had almost zero allies in court. She was scared, paranoid, and bitter. Alicent was nowhere near prepared for the motherhood and queenship that was thrust upon her. I'm pretty sure that she often found herself needing someone to vent to, and I think Aemond would've been that someone for her (My Son is My Therapist).

Alicent was, by definition, an emotionally immature parent. In this scenario, it’s common for parents to turn to their children for emotional support. She couldn’t turn to Viserys, Aegon was rowdy and does his own shit, and she and Helaena never quite connected. That left Aemond, who strikes me as a naturally attentive and observant child.

This is just a theory, but I don’t see why it couldn’t have happened given the circumstances. It would certainly explain why Aemond and his mom are so close. (And why Aemond gives "older sibling who acts like a parent" vibes.)

I mean, have you seen this scene? The softness they have for each other? How in tune they are with each other’s emotions? They act more like equals than Mother and Son.

With Viserys being a shitty father who'd rather play with his legos than pay attention to his son, Alicent would also be the only person Aemond would look to for guidance, to make sense of the world.

I'm imagining Alicent ranting about Rhaenyra's irresponsibility while a young Aemond listens, absorbing every word.

Here I am, upholding the kingdom, the family, the law, while she flouts it all to do as she pleases.

The audacity of her to name her common-faced bastards as heirs while you and Aegon are pushed further down the line of succession.

Where is duty? Where is honor? Where is sacrifice?

It’s a wonder to me that her sons’ eggs ever hatched. We all know what they really are.

Aemond takes Alicent's words to heart and he treats them with a level of seriousness that is rare for most children his age. He strikes me as a very precocious kid. I see him as an overthinker, which would mean he has a tendency to mull over things for long periods of time and find deeper meanings where most would fail to. (A trait that would serve him but ultimately destroy him in the end.)

Like the good student he is, Aemond takes in everything that Alicent has to say. And if my My Son is My Therapist theory is correct, then out of all of Alicent’s children, Aemond would be the one most privy to her thoughts. It would explain why he's so similar to her in beliefs and personality. Everything he knew, he learned from Alicent.

Helaemond shippers like to point at this scene and say Aemond had a crush on Helaena and idk about you but it sounds like he's just echoing his mother. This is a 10-year-old boy.

Thanks to Alicent, Aemond would see the world as being split into two groups: the “worthy” and the “unworthy”. The worthy are the ones who uphold honor and duty. The unworthy are the ones who do not.

His sense of worth would be directly tied to this metric. Aemond has a strong desire to prove himself worthy by being the perfect prince, the perfect son. He cares deeply about how others views him, and he becomes a perfectionist.

Aegon being a useless drunkard and Rhaenyra being a lawbreaker would only motivate him further. (Yes, Rhaenyra naming her bastards as heirs is literally illegal. It's high treason. It's an offense that would result in being disinherited and even executed, I can't stress this enough.) I can do better, Aemond thinks.

So, being the only boy in the family without a dragon would do monumental damage to his self-esteem.

I'm imagining him listening to Alicent rant about how Jacaerys and Lucerys are unworthy of having their dragon eggs hatch. Being the over-analytical little shit he is, Aemond would've come to the conclusion that the eggs only hatch for true Targaryens. And suddenly he's worried because what if I'm not worthy of my name?

Even my idiot older brother and my bastard nephews have dragons. What does that make me? He thinks. Aemond would've felt so small.

As if it wasn't bad enough to know that he was only the spare to Aegon's heir, to watch his father neglect him while pouring affection to his half-sister and her kids, to know that he was the least important member of the family. (Knowing you're not the favorite child hurts even for normal people; imagine growing up in a family system where every child is ranked from most important to least.)

It sure didn't help that Aegon, Jace, and Lucerys took advantage of his biggest insecurity to bully him.

Now, we don't know exactly when this bullying started or how long it had been going on, but the Pink Dread incident was nowhere near the first time. To find a pig and to attach wigs on it takes a bit more effort than your average taunts. There's a lot that has to build up for that to happen. I'm guessing the bullying had been going for a few years.

But the pig was definitely the crescendo. With each taunt and sneer the boys had thrown at him, Aemond's self-esteem had gotten worse and worse. When the Pink Dread happens, something in Aemond snaps.

It was more than just a pig with wings. It was utter humiliation. It was telling him no matter how perfect you try to be, you will always be lesser.

Knowing this and all the pent-up anger that Aemond would have towards his brother and the Velaryon/Strong boys, it probably took him a lot of self-control to not explode right there and then.

In Fire and Blood, Aemond is described as being a feisty kid.

"Aemond was said to be half the size of his elder brother but twice as fierce."

In the show, he's more chill, but I don't think the book is wrong. F&B is written like a history book, and history only remembers what was notable. Aemond has this sort of vibe that says "I'm chill on the outside but I'm screaming on the inside." Like his mother, he holds in all his feelings for the sake of appearances but you can bet that during the times when he does let it out, this boy would have an anger that burns hotter than the seven hells. And it would be enough to give him a reputation.

Aemond tries to be on his best behavior and bottles up his emotions... until he can't anymore. Being a perfectionist, he has a do-or-die mentality. This aspect of him was ever so apparent when he sees Vhagar at Laena's funeral.

The oldest, largest, and most dangerous dragon in the world... out in the open, without a rider. And one desperate boy who has had enough of feeling weak and inferior.

Hell, it was like dangling a carrot in front of a rabbit.

This is my one and only chance, Aemond thinks. My brother and my nephews want to laugh at me? Fine, I'm going to claim a dragon that'll make theirs look like a pig.

At this point, Aemond could care less about the dangers. Give me the biggest dragon in the world or give me death.

Vhagar sees Aemond and goes, "This little shit has balls... I like it. But let's see how he does in the air." She tests him by flying like an absolute maniac but when she realizes that Aemond has persevered regardless, she deems him worthy of being her rider. Vhagar likes her riders strong-willed and courageous. Aemond didn't claim Vhagar, Vhagar claimed Aemond.

And that validation from Grandma Dragon was all Aemond needed to go on a freaking power trip. This lonely boy — who had been bullied for years, whose only "friend" was his mother — was suddenly given the highest level of approval from an ancient war dragon who people write songs about. Becoming Vhagar's rider gives him newfound confidence and Aemond feels on top of the world. He's still riding that high when the Strong boys and Daemon's daughters attack him.

It's this same rush of power that makes him utter the forbidden word.

Bastards.

I don't think Aemond actually hates Rhaenyra's boys for being bastards. I mean, look at this scene where he goes up to Jace during Laena's funeral. The look of sympathy. He wants to say something to offer condolences about Ser Harwin's death, but he knows he shouldn't. And the future love of his life is literally a bastard of House Strong.

During the fight, Aemond calls Jace and Luke bastards as a way to get back at them for making him feel weak. He's saying, look who's the inferior one now.

Then Lucerys stabs him in the eye and all the euphoria he felt a few minutes ago goes down the drain.

It only got worse from there.

Instead of giving him sympathy, his half-sister politicizes his trauma, makes the entire thing about her and her sons, and accuses him of treason. His father is angrier over the fact that he called his nephews bastards than the fact that he was maimed. The little shit who took out his eye doesn't even apologize.

And where had his useless older brother been all this time? Drunk beyond repair.

The only one who seems to care is his mother, and Aemond watches as she gets excessively gaslit for wanting justice on his behalf.

He's sitting there in the armchair while all this goes down, one of his eyes is literally gone, and his injury is probably so painful that his head feels like it's going to burst.

I let my feelings get ahead of me one time and this is what happens, Aemond thinks.

Any other kid in his position would've felt entitled to act out, but Aemond swallows down his emotions and puts on a brave face. He protects his mother from his father's wrath and even steps in to defuse the situation by placating her. Mommy's little therapist.

This ten-year-old boy was forced to take on the role of an adult while his eye had been freshly slashed from his skull. The trauma of that night would stay with him for years afterward.

Three things were certain in Aemond's mind:

He can't count on his father to defend him.

He can't count on his older brother to defend him.

His half-sister cares more about the throne than his safety and most likely his life.

When the family returns to Kings Landing the next day, Aemond leaves his childhood behind at Driftmark.

He develops hyper-independence and spends the next several years trying to compensate for his disability while preparing for the Targaryen Hunger Games that will come one day. Aemond would be the first one up at dawn, already in the training yard, and he'd be the last one to retreat to his chambers at night, reading page after page in the library and sometimes even falling asleep there.

Well, okay, maybe he's not exactly the last one to bed.

I'm imagining pre-teen Aemond coming out of the library at the hour of the owl, only to bump into a staggering teenage Aegon who was just sneaking back into the Red Keep after a late-night rendezvous, high as a kite.

This is the idiot who is to be king, Aemond thinks. (Rhaenyra's gang can delude themselves as much as they'd like but Aemond knows the precedent set by the Great Council of 101 AC, the primogeniture, was bigger than the wishes of a dying king and an entitled princess.)

No matter how hard he tries, his clown of a brother would always get what Aemond had always been more qualified for.

Because Aemond was only the second son.

Worse, a second son with just one eye.

Aemond's quite insecure about his looks; I'm sure he thinks his scar looks ugly and horrifying. It's canon that he wears the eyepatch to not frighten the ladies. The sapphire is there so he looks cool when he does want to frighten them.

I don't think he would've had a lot of crushes. Not because he doesn't care about romance or sex, I think it would be because he's scared of getting rejected. He hears the court calling him Aemond One-Eye and people whispering about his fiery temper behind his back. As a side effect of that traumatic day in Driftmark, I think Aemond would now anger quite easily, as trauma survivors often do. And when he isn't angry, he's putting on a stone mask of confidence to seem indestructible. It would definitely come off quite cold to others, but after all the helplessness he had felt, Aemond adopts the "I'd rather be feared than loved" mentality.

He knows he's not crush-worthy material (don't fight me on this, it's different for fandom girlies because we know his story, but imagine if you didn't and you met him in real life, only knowing him based on the rumors? and, while I think ewan mitchell is handsome af, he's not conventionally pretty.).

I have other things to do than think about girls, he tells himself.

Then Aegon takes him to a brothel on the Streets of Silk on his thirteenth birthday. His older brother basically rapes him by proxy via a woman who is twice Aemond's age. (We don't know if this trauma did anything to affect Aemond's sexual preferences but we do know that teenage Aemond would never look at girls his own age. He falls in love with Alys Rivers... who's like 40. Aemond also has mommy issues so there's that.)

When Aegon marries Helaena, Aemond does his best to protect his sister from his brother's abuse because he knows what it's like. Both being victims of Aegon, he forms a special bond with Helaena and takes on the role of being her protector. This protectiveness he feels is extended down to Helaena's children.

A few years go by and Aemond settles into a routine that consists of him picking up after his brother, taking care of his sister and her children, being a confidant to his mother, and essentially taking the position of the family patriarch. On top of this, he has a rigorous training regimen and he's studying everything he can about history and political philosophy so that at least someone will know shit about ruling when Aegon becomes king.

This boy had so much on his plate.

Eventually, the matter of Driftmark's succession brings Rhaenyra's clan back to court. Bro definitely had flashbacks when he heard the news that they were coming. During the petitions scene, he's tense and on guard. He's trying to act like seeing Rhaenyra and her kids doesn't bother him, but his hands are clasped high behind his back as if he's trying to keep it all in.

At this point, it was about more than the loss of his eye. It was about more than just that night. More than the pain of the injury, and more than the phantom pain that he probably still feels occasionally in the place where his eye had been.

(Edited: I found this amazing post explaining that Aemond most likely had chronic pain resulting from nerve damage. So he probably had more than phantom pain. Which makes his trauma ten times worse.)

No, this boy has been hurt mind, body, and soul. He looks at the blacks and he sees all the years of helplessness, loneliness, resentment, anger, and insecurity that he had been through as a result of their actions. (I've said before that Aemond is a ruminator, and ruminators are often the best grudge-holders.)

Daemon beheads Vaemond for saying the same thing he did when he lost his eye, showing absolutely no mercy. Then, during dinner, the little shit who took out his eye had the audacity to laugh at him when he saw a pig.

Aemond's like, y'know what, I've been acting cordial all day for the sake of being respectful but these people don't deserve it. Fuck it.

After Vizzy T dies and Aegon runs off, Aemond volunteers to find the fool. He prides himself in being dutiful and loyal, it's literally his entire sense of identity, and if it means tracking down his idiot of a brother just so the fool could be crowned — so be it.

That doesn't mean he has to be happy about it though. Aemond finds himself alone in the streets of Flea Bottom with Ser Crispy — the man who taught him how to fight, the man who has been there for his family ever since he was born — and decides to take the opportunity to vent and grant himself some much-needed catharsis, if only for a few seconds.

I think all the resentment that he had felt during the last few days finally boiled over when he saw Luke at Storm's End.

There he was, selling himself up for marriage, trying to do what's expected of him even though he probably feels like a puppet on a string — just so Eggy gets to keep his crown. And this boy, this boy who took his eye out, who bullied him, who laughed and never apologized, waltzes in. The same boy who, a few days ago, was named heir to Driftmark, even though he was a bastard and a second son.

Aemond is triggered. He's a trauma victim; his mind immediately reverts back to the state it was in that fateful night in Driftmark. Mentally, he's no longer the dutiful young adult. The helpless little boy in him comes out and he sees red.

"I want you to put out your eye."

My theory is that Aemond had been dreaming about taking Luke's eye as retribution for years. It's pretty common for victims of violence to fantasize about attacking their abusers — it's a defense mechanism to prepare them for violence to come, and in Aemond's case, violence was guaranteed to come. My dude has probably been suffering from intrusive homicidal ideations for while.

The show told the tale from Luke's POV so we see the boy running out the hall after Borros ends the conversation, only for a mean nasty Aemond to chase him on Vhagar. In the book, however, another secondborn decides to stir shit up after Luke leaves the room.

And there it might have ended, but for the girl Maris. The secondborn daughter of Lord Borros, less comely than her sisters, she was angry with Aemond for preferring them to her. "Was it one of your eyes he took, or one of your balls?" Maris asked the prince, in tones sweet as honey. "I am so glad you chose my sister, I want a husband with all his parts."

So what I'm thinking is that Aemond did try to drop his anger when Luke took his leave. But then the girl picks at his insecurity (bro doesn't know shit about girls and he takes everything so seriously, there's no way he could've seen that she was just jealous).

And that was the final straw. The boy who has tried so hard to be perfect loses control. Honestly, this moment has been a long time coming.

Aemond chases Luke on Vhagar to scare him. He wants to make Luke feel as helpless as he did when they were younger. It makes him feel powerful, and after feeling stepped on for so long, he's letting himself enjoy it while giggling like a maniac in the pouring rain.

Vhagar, however, had other plans. I think she sensed his anger and madness, just like Arrax sensed Luke's fear and anxiety. Aemond might've been playing around, but Vhagar had a mind of her own.

Aemond's only friend (who doesn't also double as a mom or a training teacher) is his geriatric dragon, so of course he would be a tad overconfident in their bond. He definitely wasn't planning for Vhagar to dive in for a little snack.

And that's the story of how the lonely boy who tried and tried and tried to be the perfect son went down in history as a kinslayer.

I can't wait to see him in season 2, absolutely wrecked with guilt. And who's going to believe that mean ole Aemond One-Eye never meant to kill Lucerys? Kinslaying is a serious offense in Westeros. Aemond fucks up one time and now he's going to be ostracized for the rest of his life (which isn't too long 💀).

I can't wait to see how his dynamic with Alicent is going to change since he's no longer this golden boy.

I can't wait to see him become absolutely deranged when Blood and Cheese happens. Aemond thinks he knows what guilt feels like? Think again. The guilt of killing Lucerys was only the prologue. With Blood and Cheese, Aemond wouldn't just be losing a nephew, he'd lose his sister too. Helaena becomes a ghost of a person, and Aegon... I think Egg would be so mad at Aemond. The roles between the brothers would suddenly reverse.

Also, I can't wait to see how they'll portray his relationship with Alys Rivers. (I will sue if they make Alys a skinny, young cottage-core girl. Give me an actual middle-aged woman and make her a witchy girlboss with a fire that matches Aemond's. Give me Katie McGrath.) I want to see him meet Alys and be like "Fuck the Baratheon girl, I'm going to hell anyway so I as might as well enjoy life while I can." I want to see the dutiful side of him unravel as his desires get the best of him. I want to see him drunk with power when he becomes Aegon's regent.

#aemond targaryen #hotd essay #hotd thoughts #house of the dragon #team green #hotd aemond #hotd meta #hotd analysis

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